This virtual book tour is presented by Bewitching Book Tours.
Click HERE for more tour information.
Welcome back to The Wormhole and The Timeless Keepsakes tour.
Today I am pleased to feature Lita Harris and Christmas Spirits.
About Lita Harris:
Lita Harris spends her time between New
Jersey and the Endless Mountains region of Pennsylvania, where she writes most
of her books. She also lived in Alaska for a short time
just for fun. An avid crafter, unused supplies clutter her
basement and attempts at making pottery, jewelry, and stained glass
are proudly displayed in her house, usually behind a picture or
holding a door open. She also makes candles and homemade
soap. With enough books to stock a small library she may need to construct
a building to store her literary obsessions.
She writes in
multiple genres, including women’s fiction, contemporary romance,
paranormal, and cozy mysteries. For more information about Lita, please visit
her website at www.LitaHarris.com
or at twitter.com/litaharris
and facebook.com/litaharrisauthor.
Christmas
Spirits
Lita Harris
A widow's
everlasting love is renewed by the memories of the holiday season.
Excerpt
Christmas Spirits:
Chapter One
“What’s
this, Grams?”
Emily Chadwick watched Olivia’s tiny feet shuffle across the
kitchen floor as she approached with a small globe nestled in her hands. She
stood back from the stove and brushed a lock of frizzy bang away from her eyes.
The beef stew was nearly ready as meat, carrots, onions, and potatoes simmered,
a perfect winter meal. She flicked the back of her hand and Olivia stepped away
from the stove.
“What do you have there?” She pulled out a hand-carved chair
from the kitchen table—always meaning to replace them with something lighter
and modern—but she couldn’t bring herself to rid the house of any furniture
Michael had made. She stretched out her arm as her granddaughter placed the
piece of glass into her withered hands.
“Huh.” Emily caught her breath. “Where did you find this?”
“In the attic. I was looking for Cleo. She ran up there when
I opened the door to let some cool air into the hallway upstairs.”
The heat was difficult to control in the house, built in
1850, and the attic door proved more efficient at controlling the heat than a
thermostat.
Emily held the ornament to the light. Snow filled the globe
as she twirled it between her fingers. “Your grandfather made this when we
first met.”
“It’s pretty.” Olivia squinted her eyes. “Is that you and
Grandpa on the lake?”
Emily nodded. “Yes it is. He was a stickler for detail. He
didn’t make much blown glass so this is very special. He focused mainly on
furniture.” She fought back a frown as she glanced at the silent guitar in the
corner next to a chair by the kitchen fireplace.
Olivia stood back, away from the table, and clasped her
hands behind her back. “I’m not touching it ever!”
“You’ll have to at some point because it’ll be yours.” She
laughed.
“Nope, give it to Mom.”
Emily knew her granddaughter couldn’t appreciate the
sentimental value the ornament possessed, but she could tell Olivia knew it
would be a bad thing if the ornament broke.
“You look sad, Grams.”
She walked over to the sink and opened the window. Dust
flitted through the room as the cool outside air merged with the heat from the
kitchen fireplace. It was a constant battle to create a comfortable temperature
in the old house. “Sit down, dear.”
She strolled over to the kitchen table and pushed a plate of
fudge walnut brownies toward her granddaughter. Olivia poured them each a glass
of milk. Emily wrinkled her nose in silent protest but couldn’t refuse the
gesture. It was good for her, no matter how much she hated the taste and smell
of milk.
Emily watched Olivia scoff down a brownie quicker than she
could say the word. She enjoyed the time spent alone with her granddaughter.
Soon, the day would come when Olivia wouldn’t want to spend time at her
grandmother’s house to help bake Christmas cookies. Emily had seen it happen
with her own daughter and she doubted that Olivia would be any different.
It had been years since she’d made a holiday dinner but
every year she insisted on baking. It helped to keep her mind busy and not miss
Michael so much.
“I wish you could have known your grandfather.” She turned
the ornament to catch the light. Fake snow swirled about the skaters on the
lake.
“Mom talks about Grandpa a lot. I know she misses him.”
Olivia snatched another brownie.
Emily smiled. “I bet she does. All she ever had to do was
ask for something and he jumped to help her.” She picked up a brownie and
nibbled the edge of the crusty confection. “That was his way. Always eager to
help someone.” And that’s how he died.
She closed her eyes and remembered that day.
Michael just had
to go out into the blizzard and pull his buddy out of a ditch. But that’s how
he was. No one anticipated the cable line snapping and knocking him down the
hill into a cluster of trees.
She couldn’t be mad even though she missed him. He was doing
what had made her fall in love with him, being generous, kind, and giving. She
pushed the memory aside and sighed a deep breath of relief.
“I would have liked to meet him.” Olivia took another
brownie from the plate and shoved it into her mouth. “Tell me about him.”
Emily swept her hand through the air, then pointed about the
room. “Your grandfather bought this house for me and restored it himself right
after we got married. He made nearly every piece of wood furniture that fills
the rooms of this old place.”
Emily picked up the ornament and cupped it in her hands.
“But it was what he did before our wedding day that took my breath away and
stole my heart forever.” Tears filled her eyes.
“What was that, Grams?” Olivia knelt on the kitchen chair
and her ten-year-old face glowed with excitement.
“Well, it all started in the late ’60s…”
Wonderful. I liked that most of the story is told as flashback, spoken by the grandma Usually I look for the characters to pull me into the story, but in Chtristmas Spirits it is the tale itself that grabbed my heart. I found myself thinking wistfully about friendship and true love and how many people actually find it. I enjoyed every minute of the story and was left wiping my eyes at the sweet ending.
